THE DETROIT STUDIO
2990 WEST GRAND BOULEVARD, DETROIT, MI 48202

Serving Students and Community in Southeastern Michigan

The mission of the Detroit Studio is to provide students with an enriched educational experience through community-based architectural, urban design and community development projects; and to offer accessible and useful programs and information to the public, design profession, municipal officials and business community.   The studio was founded in 1999 and is located in the New Center area of Detroit.  It is committed to serving communities in Detroit, Wayne County, and Southeastern Michigan as part of the mission of LTU through Service Learning projects that utilize interdisciplinary collaboration and team-work to address real needs, problems, and potentials.  Projects conducted at the Detroit Studio are shared with the public and LTU student body through exhibitions, community presentations, lectures, field trips, and publications.

As students and faculty from LTU participate in neighborhood development projects involving community-based architectural design and urban planning, they are able to work with community organizations, local residents, municipal officials and professionals in the field.   The most rewarding aspect of the urban outreach program is that students learn how to use design and urban planning as tools to advance and negotiate their ideas to promote social learning, community building and educating the public about values of creative form making.  What makes projects at the Detroit Studio unique and rewarding is the collaborative nature and design and planning, which entails working not just “for” the people but “with” the people and “by” the people who need it most.  At the studio, multiple areas are taught so design, planning and scholarly research go hand in hand.  Experiences in the Detroit Studio open our eyes to an unknown, diverse, and complex world while the theoretical and scientific nature of scholarly research helps us create new knowledge.